If you commit a traffic offence, it is quite possible you will be stopped on the road and issued with a fine straight away, which foreign licence holders a likely to have to pay on the spot, but in the case of Spanish licence holders, there is a payment period where you can benefit for a discount for prompt payment. However, not all fines are issued on the road, and many are issued remotely, and so the question is, how long does it take to receive a traffic fine through the post?
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It Depends!
The simple answer to the question is, “it depends”! This is due largely to the fact that the different bodies that issue and manage fines have different procedures.
If, for example, it is a speeding fine directly managed by the DGT through the Electrónica Vial, it can take approximately one to two weeks.
On the other hand, if it is a fine within the competencies of a local council, it may take longer, even a month.
Therefore, there is no standardised and stipulated time for a fine to arrive at your home. Everything will depend on the body that manages it.
Notifications
That said, one thing must be clear: although there is no specific time for a fine to arrive at your home, there is a period after which violations become annulled.
Specifically, infractions classified as minor (less than 100 euro) expire after three months, while those classified as serious do so after six months.
After this time, if you do not receive notification of the fine within that period, you will not have to pay it, since the penalty will have expired, as established by the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety. Likewise, if the notification arrives within the deadline, but you do not agree, you can also appeal the fine. A warning though, appealing a fine will cancel out the prompt payment reduction offer.
You cannot, however, simply ignore the notification in the post, as a notification is still considered delivered even if you do not receive it, as you will see below.
Ways of notifying of traffic fines
It can be a notification on the spot, if an agent imposes the sanction on you at the same moment in which you have committed it. For example, if you exceed the alcohol level in a control.
They can also communicate it to you by postal mail. If they have not been able to notify you of the sanction immediately, you will receive the notification at your home (by registered post). If the communication does not reach any address or is rejected, the notification is published on the Edictal Board of Sanctions (TESTRA) and on the Single Edictal Board of the BOE (TEU).
Other ways to notify fines are through the Electronic Road Administration (DEV), through this DGT platform, which takes about 10 days, and the MiDGT application, after a few weeks.
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